


Team 7 is Back in Business!

by Thieving_Bubbles



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Apologies, BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, F/M, Minor Haruno Sakura/Uzumaki Naruto, Naruto brings Sasuke back to Konoha, Naruto could've easily beaten Sasuke, Naruto uses his brain, Post-Uchiha Sasuke Retrieval Arc, Smart Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto Friendship, Uchiha Sasuke Being an Asshole, Uchiha Sasuke Returns to Konoha, What if Naruto summoned a toad while fighting Sasuke?, apologetic sasuke, naruto's toads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 17:28:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30059007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thieving_Bubbles/pseuds/Thieving_Bubbles
Summary: Kinda dramatic with a happy ending. The Sasuke Retrieval mission was a success! After using a certain jutsu that he'd almost forgotten about, Naruto was able to bring his teammate back to the Hidden Leaf Village. After the mission, Naruto woke up in the hospital, and Team 7 had some mending to do.Reposted from my FFN account
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uzumaki Naruto
Kudos: 6





	Team 7 is Back in Business!

** Team 7 is Back in Business! **

_Valley of the End_

Naruto was surrounded by the chakra of the nine-tailed demon fox that resided in his seal. He was currently standing across the waterfall from Sasuke, who had adopted an inhuman form with the curse mark gifted to him by Orochimaru. The blonde knew that Sasuke was powerful, but the fact that he could keep up with him, even though he was using the nine-tailed fox's chakra, was absolutely terrifying; Naruto had to end the battle, and he had to end it now. Naruto panted, watching his friend in order to determine his next move...

The jinchuriki could scarcely believe it when Sasuke began forming a chidori in his hand - this one, a sickly purple/black color. Naruto reasoned that this must have been because of the power of the curse mark, and quickly began plotting his next move. Doubt creeped in to the young boy's mind, as he began to wonder as to whether he truly could win this battle.

_Okay, so, Sasuke can keep up with me, even in this form, when he's using his curse mark... And if I use the rasengan against him now, he might be able to outmatch me. Think, Naruto, think! Gotta get him back, so that Sakura-chan never cries like that again - I won't let her feel that pain! I'll do whatever it takes to bring Sasuke back, even if I die!..._

Naruto recalled all the other times that he'd been _this_ close to dying; when Gaara attacked Sakura, when Mizuki attacked Iruka, when he and Sasuke were trapped in the ice mirrors, when Jiraiya had pushed him off a cliff...

_Of course, why didn't I realize it before? It's so obvious_ _!_

As Sasuke began rushing towards him, Naruto animalistically sunk his teeth into his thumb and made a large cut, then slapped his hand on the ground.

Still running towards the boy, Sasuke wondered just what that idiot was doing. Couldn't he see that he was about to get impaled by the chidori? Why was he just _standing_ there? Sasuke got his answer when a massive poof of smoke enveloped the Valley, and he found himself now staring at a giant toad.

Naruto was now meters upon meters in the sky, standing atop Gamabunta's thick, cool head. Gamabunta bellowed, **"Naruto, what do you need?!"** , and, while letting go of the nine-tailed fox's chakra, Naruto begged, "Gamabunta, you gotta help me get my friend Sasuke back to the Hidden Leaf! Please!". Gamabunta looked around, and immediately spotted Sasuke right in front of himself.

Sasuke tried to slam the chidori into Gamabunta, but the large toad was too quick, and he slapped the boy with his tongue. Sasuke was tossed across the valley, and his chidori penetrated the stone cliff. Before the Uchiha could do anything else, Gamabunta grabbed him, rolledhim up in his tongue, and held him in that grasp. Sasuke struggled to try and get out, but the hold which he was in was inescapable. After that, Gamabunta lifted his tongue above his head to show his summoner that the target had been caught.

Seeing this, Naruto began crying tears of joy, and finally collapsed from exhaustion. He lied prone on the toad's back, catching his fleeting breath.

_I did it, Sakura-chan, I brought him back for you. I did it...!_

The panging soreness took over Naruto's body, and he felt himself beginning to pass out after all that he'd gone through. The main culprit of this soreness was the fox's chakra - he'd overloaded his chakra coils with it. But it was worth it. To see Sakura-chan smiling, Naruto would give his life. He let a smile come across his own face as the world around him disappeared behind his eyelids.

* * *

When Naruto woke up, the first sensation that came to him was the _beep_ from a heart monitor, which paused and started again with his heartbeat. He opened his eyes, and found himself facing the white ceiling of a hospital. He blinked a few times, and slowly shifted himself up into a sitting position. The blonde inspected himself, finding that he was wrapped up almost like a mummy, though his hair and most of his face were free of bandages.

_That was insane, I can't believe it took all of **that** just to get Sasuke back to the Village! _ _I owe Gamabunta, big-time._

Naruto shut his eyes and groaned in pain - it seemed that his body was still sore from the fight. He opened his eyes again, and swiveled his head around the room. No-one at the left, no-one at the right. He looked at the clock on the wall.

** 9:47 P .M. **

He sighed and brought his knees up to his chest, painfully, but completely. He held his temple and rubbed it, attempting to bring ease to his troubled mind.

_I wonder if anyone's gonna visit_ _Nah... They're probably out, having Ichiraku's ramen with Sasuke or something. Probably not even ramen - they can go anywhere they want without being glared at._

Naruto cracked his knuckles, then laid back down and moved to his side, to try and get back to sleep. He pulled the covers over himself and tried to get back to sleep, closing his eyes.

The door opened a few minutes later, and in walked Shizune. She was pleasantly surprised to see that Naruto had awoken, and she greeted, "Hey, Naruto, how are ya?". Naruto turned around to look at her, and replied, "Other than the bone-shattering pain resonating throughout my body, I'm perfectly fine.".

Shizune smiled at this, and gave him a glass of water, which he drank as she conducted some tests. After the tests were done, Naruto was informed that he would be good to go just as soon as Tsunade checked over him the next morning.

* * *

When Naruto woke up again, he opened his eyes to see Team 7 standing at the side of his bed. Sakura's eyes were downtrodden, as she had her hands folded and held against her chest (as if she were praying). Kakashi was reading his smut, and Sasuke had his hands in his pockets, looking down ashamedly.

Naruto shifted in the bed to sit up again. As soon as the team saw him move, they perked up, and Sakura broke from her prayer to hug Naruto. She weeped into the pillow behind him, letting out a muffled cry of "We were so worried about you!". Needless to say, Naruto was confused. He looked up at Kakashi, who explained, "You've been in a coma for the past few weeks, Naruto. We visited every day, up until visiting hours were over.".

Then, Kakashi nudged Sasuke, and gently pulled a tearful Sakura back. Sasuke looked at Naruto in the eyes as he said, "Naruto, I'm sorry for leaving the village, and for hurting you.".

Naruto narrowed his eyes, and responded, "You should apologize to Sakura - she was so sad when you left the village, y'know.".

Bewildered , Sasuke countered, "But I nearly killed _you_. I feel guilty about what I did to _you_.".

Naruto crossed his arms and replied, "Then I won't forgive you. If you don't feel the slightest bit bad about hurting Sakura-chan, even though she cares more for you than anyone else does, then you're not someone whose apology I want to accept.".

Kakashi tried to reason, "Naruto, Sasuke's already beat himself up over this for the past few weeks. Can't you just give him a second chance?".

Naruto told him, without hesitation, "No, I can't.". He turned to Sasuke, "Sasuke, you do realize that you wouldn't be here to regret what you did if it wasn't for Sakura-chan, right? The least you can do is give her an opportunity to actually _forgive_ you for what you did, rather than acting like it's okay that you betrayed her like that.".

Chills ran down Sasuke's spine. Naruto wasn't there when he left the village, but the way that the blonde was speaking, it was like he _knew_ what had transpired that night. It was all just so... _Eerie_.

Of course, the reality was that Naruto _didn't_ know what happened that night. He was really just trying to put himself in Sakura's shoes, by imagining how he himself would feel if Sakura left the village.

_She'd never do that, though._

It was then that Sakura spoke up. She choked through her words at first, but as she kept speaking, her voice became clear. She closed here eyes and said, "I don't-t _want_ to f-forgive Sasuke. He showed me that night that he has n-no regard for my feelings! Maybe I'll forgive him in the future, but I don't see myself forgiving him _soon_.". She opened her eyes and peered into Naruto's cerulean orbs. "Don't link your forgiveness of Sasuke to mine, Naruto. You should forgive him based on whether _you_ want to do so, not on whether _I_ want to!".

_Sakura-chan..._

Naruto clenched his fists, and looked back at Sakura. _Really_ looked back. For years now, he'd been looking at people's foreheads to make it look like he was making eye-contact, but now, he was _actually_ meeting Sakura's gaze. He studied her piercing green eyes, and felt the weight of her words - the pure conviction that emanated from her irises as the center of his vision swirled to inspect every detail of them.

_If I was betrayed like that, I'd definitely find the capacity to forgive Sasuke. But that's just **me**. Sasuke doesn't mean the same to me that he means to Sakura. She's wanted his acknowledgement for the longest time, and for him to brush off her feelings like that must've been some sort of wake-up call for her..._ _Meanwhile, I've always been at Sasuke's throat, and it's the same situation the other way around. I never wanted his acknowledgement. For him to have gotten into that fight with me was... **uniform** , something to be expected. Something that **I** expected would happen someday._

Naruto and Sakura were still staring at each other. Despite the new ground that they'd broken, neither of them could find the strength to stop looking into the other's eyes, except to blink (though, in their minds, they were being strong by _not_ looking away).

_Man, I've never been so close-up to Sakura-chan before... She looks even cuter than normal at this distance!_

_Man, I've never been so close-up to Naruto before... He actually looks kinda cute at this distance!_

Eventually, the both of them began to blush, and they looked away at the exact same time when they felt blood rushing into their cheeks.

Naruto considered the thoughts that he'd just had regarding Sasuke. Inadvertently, Sakura had put the situation into perspective for the jinchuriki, and he now felt that he really shouldn't have equated his forgiveness of Sasuke to Sakura's forgiveness of Sasuke. After all, Sasuke did mean more to her than to him. But the Uchiha willingly tried to break _both_ bonds, didn't he? Surely, it would be warranted for Naruto to not forgive him.

_How can I ever really **trust** Sasuke again after this? We can start at square one, and he'd have to earn my trust again, but it wouldn't be fair to treat him like a stranger. The farthest back I can go regarding our relationship would have to be when he saved me in the crystal ice mirrors. The fact that he tried to kill me has more-or-less negated that action. No less. No more? I don't know... I guess I'll have to take a leap of faith._

Naruto looked up and faced Sasuke. Fiery blue met subdued onyx, as Naruto stated, "I forgive you, Sasuke, but that doesn't mean that I'm gonna forget what you did. I hope you understand.".

Sasuke responded, "Yeah, I understand...".

After a bit of a silence, Naruto held his fist out, and said, "Alright, then, Team 7 is back in business!". Team 7 smiled at each other, as the remaining members brought their fists into the circle and repeated the phrase.

Team 7 remained in the room for the whole morning, as Naruto had gotten checked up on by Tsunade (who was acting quite motherly towards him) and allowed to freshen up before leaving. As Team 7 got ready to leave and get some dango, though, a particular Pervy Sage climbed into the room through the window.

He was there to offer to take Naruto on a training trip, spanning three years, but the boy denied this request. He wanted to stay in the Hidden Leaf Village, at least for a little while, before doing anything like that.

* * *

**Epilogue** **, two years later.**

Naruto and Sakura were having their daily morning walk around the village. Ever since they'd begun dating, they'd opted to spend as much time as they could together, since Sakura would often be busy at the hospital, and Naruto would often be busy with the high-rank missions he was sent on as a jonin of the Leaf. The couple spent as much time as they could together, and they enjoyed every single moment of it.

Naruto was left with only his fishnet armor on his torso, as he'd given his black/orange jacket to Sakura, for her to wear in the autumn weather. Theor fingers intertwined as they walked, and they gently swayed their hands with every step they took. Among other things, they were discussing their feelings for each other ( "I love you" / "I love you too" / "I love you more" / "Prove it" ). They reminisced about the day that they confessed their feelings for each other.

**_Flashback, two years ago_ **

_A month after Naruto had gotten discharged from the hospital, Team 7 seemed to have returned to their normal spirits._

_Actually, scratch that. Team 7 was better than ever._

_They had become a well-oiled machine, each member building off the strengths and weaknesses of the others to achieve a level of teamwork that was matched only by Team 10's Ino-Shika-Cho trio. No longer did Sakura sink into her heart around Sasuke, no longer was Naruto jealous of the Uchiha, no more did Sasuke intend to betray the village, and no more did Kakashi neglect his flower-hair-colored students (that's not to say that Sasuke still wasn't his favorite)._

_One day, upon arriving at Team 7's usual rendezvous point - the bench on the bridge - Naruto saw Sakura sitting there, looking more thought-full than usual. The boy walked over to the bench, sat beside the girl he loved, and asked her what was wrong._

_The pinkette turned her head towards him with a smile, and told him, "There's nothing **wrong**. It's just that...", she blushed, "I think that I'minlovewithyouandIreallywannabewithyoubutIdon'twannaruinourfriendship!". Naruto gave her a quizzical look, and inquired, "What'd you say?", to which Sakura responded by fuming for a second, before restating, "I'm in love with you, and I really wanna **be** with you, but I don't wanna ruin our friendship..."._

_Naruto laughed for a few seconds, and asked, "Is that all?"._

_Sakura looked at him, puzzled, and questioned, "What do you mean, ' **I**_ **_s that all_ ** _**?** '?". The blonde began to blush, before scratching the back of his head (which wasn't itchy) and answering, "Well, maybe I want to ruin our friendship...". He giggled._

_He giggled! Of all the things he could do now, he giggled!_

_Sakura pressed further, "Naruto, what are you talking about?", and Naruto leaned in closer to her, making her feel her cheeks turn into a nice shade of red. Then, he said, "I'm in love with you, too, and I also wanna **be** with you, y'know. And that would make us... Not **just** friends anymore, right? So we'd be, like, ruining our friendship and becoming **more** than friends instead, y'know?"._

_Sakura looked at Naruto in confusion, then sighed, face-palmed, and replied, "That's SO corny, Naruto...". The blonde chuckled nervously and responded, "I- I- yeah, it is...". The pink-haired girl removed her face from her palms and looked back at Naruto with a smile. She remarked, "But I guess that's part of what makes you, you.". In turn, Naruto simply said, "Yeah, I guess..."._

_After that, they sat a few minutes in silence before Sakura slowly placed her left hand (which was resting on the bench) over Naruto's right hand (which was also resting on the bench). Naruto looked at her, and admitted, "Y'know, Sakura-chan, there's something important that I have to tell you...". The rosette met his gaze and asked, "What is it, Naruto?". The blonde could barely believe that he was gonna do this, but he knew that he had to do this. He sheepishly explained, "On the day that we were assigned to Team 7, I wanted to know what you thought of me, so I disguised myself as Sasuke. I found you sitting on a bench, and I told you that 'Your forehead's so wide and charming, it kinda makes me wanna kiss it.'."._

_Sakura's eyes widened when he said this, and the only words that would come out of her mouth were, "So, that was you... "._

**_Flashback over_ **

Since that day, Naruto and Sakura had made massive strides in their relationship. Now, they understood each other, loved each other, and were content just being with each other. Of course, they were both needy in their own ways, but they always knew that they'd prioritize each other over everything else.

As for Team 7 as a whole, they were all doing excellent.

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had all become chunin after taking the next chunin exams. Naruto had combined the shadow clones with substitution jutsu to outdo Shino, Sakura managed to get a clean win over Ino, and Sasuke was humbled in his fight against Neji, having lost the match (though, he did still become chunin).

Right after becoming a chunin, Naruto finally opted to go on the training trip with Jiraiya, although, for a mere nine months, rather than three years. He came back smarter, stronger, and more mature (though the latter was debatable), having become the best ninja of his generation. Some were even saying that Naruto was shaping up to become the next Yellow Flash, due to his resemblance to the fourth hokage, the strongest ninja who'd ever lived.

Half of a year ago, Naruto and Sakura had both made the rank of jonin, and two months ago, Sasuke was sent on to a training trip with none other than Jiraiya. Today was the day of his return (and assessment to become jonin). Sakura Naruto were walking to the village gates to greet him.

Upon reaching the gates, they found that their sensei, Kakashi, was waiting, too. The trio greeted each other, and spoke of all the things that they'd done over the past few weeks. Right before the clock struck 10 A.M., Jiraiya and Sasuke had arrived. As the members of Team 7 eagerly got reacquainted, they brought their fists forward to create a circle, and said'

**"Team 7 is back in business!".**

* * *

**I saw a video where Naruto used the summoning jutsu during his fight against Sasuke, and I thought... "Hey, that's pretty cool! I should write a story about that!". And that's how this little one-shot was made. I spent a total of an hour on it, so it's not the most in-depth thing I've ever written, but it does what I want it to.**


End file.
